Castor oil vs. cod liver oil

Daniel van Eijmeren dve at kabelfoon.nl
Sun Dec 28 18:00:27 CET 2003


OLIVIER to me, 24-12-2003:

>> 12. "Here goes, men! Merry Christmas, Mexican style!"

> A "three dirty ducks" story. Donald eventually gets the boys to 
> actually want (or rather need) to have a bath, by leaving a pinata 
> hanging in their snow fort; the thing is fileld with castor oil. 
> WDC&S 184 ("Three Un-Ducks") (Jan '56).

The story mentions cod liver oil instead of castor oil. 

The poisoned sandwiches story (WDC 72) refers to castor oil, in panel 9.6 
(the bottle hold by Donald) and panel 10.7 ("Castor oil! Horse liniment! 
I pecac! Oil of skunkbreath! Snake bite serum!").

What's the difference between cod liver oil and castor oil?
Cod liver oil comes from whales, doesn't it?

In The Netherlands, Giving children cod liver oil ("levertraan") in/around 
autumn and winter (the months with an "r" in their names) has been common 
practrice. At least up to the 1950s/1960s, I guess. I believe this habit 
has vanished since then. I haven't heard about castor oil ("wonderolie"), 
but I guess that's just because I never thought of a difference between 
the two.

What is/was the sense of drinking cod liver oil or castor oil?
Are there still people or countries who still have this habit?

--- Daniël


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